Wirebound pallet container



Feb. 3; 1-970 A. J. SALTER I 3,493,141

WIREBOUND PALLET CONTAINER Filed F eb. 16, 1968 2 Sheets -Sheet 1 INVENTOR. AN DREW J. SALTER ATTORNEYS A. J. SALTER 3,493,141

WIREBOUND PALLET CONTAINER 7 Feb. 3, 1970 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 16, 1968 INVENTOR. ANDREW J. SALTER ATTORNEYS United States Patent M 3,493,141 WIREBOUND PALLET CONTAINER Andrew Jack Salter, Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada, assignor to Consolidated Paper (Bahamas) Limited, Nassau, Bahamas Filed Feb. 16, 1968, Ser. No. 706,171 Int. Cl. B65d 9/20 US. Cl. 217-48 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention is concerned with the construction of a palletized container from a wirebound mat, and the novelty is concerned with the manner in which the wirebound mat which forms the sides of the container is wrapped around a bottom to form a container and the way in which the lower portion of the mat is formed below the level of the bottom to admit the forks of a lift truck. The invention avoids the necessity of forming a pallet with separate depending legs.

This invention relates to a palletized container of the wirebound type.

Wirebound palletized containers are in common use. It is the general practice to form the container in two parts. There is generally a lower part, which consists of a pallet that forms the bottom of the container and that has permanently fixed downwardly depending supports that support the pallet on the floor and which are adapted to admit the lift forks of a lift truck so that the pallet and the container that it supports can be lifted and stacked use. The sidewalls of the container are separately formed as a wirebound mat and are constructed around and above the pallet.

Containers of this type are commonly used in the manufacturing industry to transport manufactured parts in bulk form. They are freely moved about a manufacturing plant by means of lift trucks and are commonly shipped by rail, truck or the like in stacked form.

These containers are relatively expensive and represent a cost in the production and processing of manufactured goods.

It is a prime object of this invention to provide a container of this general type that is cheaper to manufacture but which, at the same time, is as strong and as useful as the containers of the prior art.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a container of this general type that has advantages from the shipping and storage points of view.

With these and other objects in view, a palletized container according to this invention comprises a series of sidewalls in the form of a wirebound mat, the free edge of the two end walls of the mat being secureable together, the sidewalls of the mat having horizontally extending cleats and vertically extending slats, the cleats including a'runner cleat at the bottom of each wall, a support cleat above the runner cleat adapted for engagement by a lifting means and a band cleat adjacent the top of each wall. A bottom is provided, the sidewalls being adapted for cooperative engagement with the bottom to support the bottom above the cleats on said walls. The vertically extending slats include standing slats that extend down to the runner cleat and that are adapted to support the container in use and shortened slats that do not extend below the support cleats whereby to define a space under the support cleats that is accessible in use by lift means to lift the container from below by means of the support cleats. The invention will be clearly understood after reference to the following detailed specification read in conjunction with the drawings.

3,493,141 Patented Feb. 3, 1970 In the drawings:

FIGURE. 1 is a view of component parts of a container according to the invention about to be assembled;

FIGURE la is a detailed view showing an alternative construction of a reinforced support slat;

FIGURE 2 is a view of an assembled container; and

FIGURE 3 is a detailed view showing the corner construction at the top.

Referring to the drawings, the container there shown has a series of four sidewalls, generally indicated by the numerals 10, 12, 14 and 16. These sidewalls are in the form of a wirebound mat and have continuous wires 18 that extend across all four walls and that extend beyond the free edge of the two end walls so that the four walls can be tied together in operative position, as illustrated in FIGURES 2 and 3.

The sidewalls are each made from horizontally extending cleats and vertically extending slats.

The cleats include a runner cleat 20 at the bottom of each wall, which in use is adapted to rest on the floor. A support cleat 22 lies above the runner cleat and in use is adapted for engagement by the lifting forks of a lift truck, as will be described later. A band cleat 24 extends along the upper edge of the sidewall. In addition, there is provided an intermediate cleat 26 for strength. The requirement for intermediate cleats will, of course, vary with the requirements for strength of the container in practice.

The vertically extending slats include standing slats 28, which extend down to the runner cleat 2t) and are adapted to support the container on a floor or the like in use. It will be noted that the standing slats 28 are doubled for extra strength and that they are spaced apart along the width of the sidewalls. In the embodiment of the invention illustrated there is a standing slat at each side of the sidewall and a standing slat in the centre of the sidewall. The requirement here is that the standing slats have sufficient strength to support the container and its contents on the floor because the weight of the container and its contents is transferred through the standing slats to the floor. These containers are often stacked in use, in which case the standing slats must support the weight of the stacked containers. The number and size of the standing slats may vary with strength requirements.

In addition to standing slats, there are shortened slats 30. The shortened slats 30 extend downwardly only as far as the support cleats 22, whereby to define a space under the support cleats that is accessible in use by the lift forks in use by the lift forks of a lift truck so that the forks can enter underneath the container to engage the support cleats of opposed sidewalls and lift the container as required.

The shortened slats 30 are not stressed to the extent that the standing slats 28 are, and in most cases they can be of single thickness.

The walls of the container illustrated are made of veneer type of Wood according to standard wirebound container practice. It will be appreciated that they could be made from any type of suitable material; veneer wood, plywood, milled lumber and even corrugated components can be used in accordance with standard wirebound construction practice. The components are, of course, stapled together, but here again any standard means of securing the components is intended.

The sidewalls have been shown as formed from vertically extending slats. This is common wirebound practice, but it will be apparent that within the scope of this invention the sidewalls could be formed. in other fashion. Each sidewall, for example, could be formed from a single piece of plywood cut out along its bottom edge to form standing portions that correspond to the portions of the standing slats that extend between the runner cleats and 3 the support cleats. The cut out portions would provide the necessary space under the support cleats for access by the lifting means of a lift truck. Such a construction could be reinforced by additional standing slats at the location of the standing portions of the plywood.

Additional strength at the standing portions of the standing slats of the embodiment illustrated in FIGURES 1 to 3 of the drawings may also be incorporated as indicated in FIGURE 1a. Here the space between the run ner cleat and the support cleat on the inside of the wirebound mat is filled with a tightly fitting block of wood 41 that is stapled to the standing slats and which gives added strength to the standing portions of the standing slats in use when the container supports extra heavy loads.

These and other variations in the broad concept of the invention are possible and can be used in accordance with the specific requirements of a container in use.

The bottom of the container is generally indicated by the numeral 32. It comprises a series of boards 34 retained together by means of straps 36, which are nailed to the underside of the boards.

The bottom of the container is supported between the walls as it rests on the support cleats 22 when the walls are assembled in an operative position. Locking cleats 38 are preferably provided above the support cleats on opposed walls of the container to prevent the bottom from falling out in the event that the assembled container is overturned.

In use, the walls of the container are separately formed from the bottom and shipped to the user in knocked down condition. The user assembles the container as illustrated in FIGURE 1 by folding the walls around the bottom so that the bottom is retained in place by the support cleats and the locking cleats. The user then ties together the free ends of the wires to make an assembled and stable carton. As indicated above, it is necessary that these containers be moved by means of lift trucks, and to this end, the container provides openings in each sidewall underneath the shortened slats for entry of the forks of a lift truck, which will permit the lift truck to lift the container by exertion of an upward force on the support cleats.

An advantage in shipping of the construction is the relatively small amount of space occupied by the relatively shallow bottom 32. Previously the bottom of containers of this type was made integral with a pallet so that in a common size the height of the combined bottom and pallet was about five inches. The bottom of a container to contain an equivalent load according to this invention is about one and one-half inches deep. This represents a very substantial saving in stacking height and therefore shipping bulk and shipping weight of the bottoms of the containers.

By reason of material and manufacturing advantages of this invention, substantial savings in manufacturing costs can be realized over and above the construction where a separate combined bottom and pallet are used. The combined bottom and pallet of the prior art is relatively eX- pensive to manufacture when compared to the simple bottom used with this invention.

It will be noted that the wires binding the walls are adjacent the cleats whereby it is possible to build added strength into the container at the location of the runners and especially at the support cleat and the runner cleat where the pallet function is achieved.

Embodiments of the invention other than the one illustrated will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and it is not intended that the foregoing disclosure should be read in a limiting sense.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. A wirebound palletized container comprising a series of sidewalls, said sidewalls being in the form of a wirebound mat, the free edge of the two end walls of the mat being securable together, the sidewalls of said mat having horizontally extending cleats, said cleats including a runner cleat at the bottom of each wall, a support cleat above said runner cleat adapted for engagement by a lifting means and a band cleat adjacent the top of each Wall, a unitary bottom planar structure, said sidewalls being adapted for cooperative engagement with said bottom structure to form the sole support for said bottom structure and support said bottom structure above said support cleats on said walls, said sidewalls having vertically extending standing portions that extend between said runner cleat and said support cleat in spaced apart relation that are adapted to support said container in use and to define a space under said support cleats that is accessible in use by a lift means to lift a container formed from said sidewalls and bottom from below by said support cleats, said sidewalls of said mat comprising said horizontally extending cleats and vertically extending slats, said vertically extending slats in each sidewall including end standing slats and an intermediate standing slat which are respectively secured to said runner cleats to said support cleats and to said band cleats and that are adapted to support said container in use, and said standing slats being mutually separated by interposed shortened slats that are secured to said band cleats and to said support cleats and terminate at the latter, the portions of said standing slats that extend between said runner cleats and said support cleats forming said standing portions of said sidewalls, said end and intermediate standing slats being of a greater strength than said shortened slats, block means attached to the end standing slats and extending between the support and runner cleats, said wirebound mat having wires that extend continuously across its series of walls, and said runner cleats and said support cleats each having adjacent thereto at least one of said wires.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,933,030 10/1933 Rosenmund. 2,030,069 2/1936 Miller. 2,178,213 10/1939 Weiller 2l736 2,360,360 10/1944 Miller. 2,738,092 3/1956 Ladd.

FOREIGN PATENTS 600,831 6/1960 Canada.

RAPHAEL H. SCHWARTZ, Primary Examiner 

